WTA has no plans to change ranking system; Serena Williams could be No. 1 this month

No change in store for WTA rankings

NEW YORK — It turns out Serena Williams can move up to No. 1 in the WTA rankings, as long as she makes it to the U.S. Open final. She just would have to wait until a week after the tournament ends.

There has been much debate and discussion in recent months about why Williams is No. 2, and Dinara Safina is No. 1. The American has won three of the past four Grand Slam tournaments to raise her career total to 11, while the Russian is still seeking her first major title.

After Safina was upset in the third round at the U.S. Open, she was assured of retaining the top spot when the new rankings are issued Sept. 14, the day after the U.S. Open concludes — no matter how Williams fares the rest of the way. Williams plays in the quarterfinals Tuesday night.

But the WTA said Monday that because of the rankings’ rolling, 52-week system, the points Williams would defend by winning the year’s last major tournament — or losing in the final — would be enough to push her past Safina in the Sept. 21 rankings.

What’s far easier to understand is this: There is no plan to revamp the way the women’s tennis rankings are calculated any time soon.

“Rankings are so sacrosanct. Any change to it really needs extensive reading. But we don’t see any major overhaul,” the WTA’s new CEO, Stacey Allaster, said Monday.

“We need to run the data and look at the data with a few years under our belt before we make any wholesale changes to it,” Allaster said.

She said the ranking system serves as a tool to encourage players to participate in and take seriously non-Grand Slam tournaments.

CLINTON HONORS ASHE: Former President Bill Clinton will participate in a tribute to the late Arthur Ashe at the U.S. Open on Thursday night.

Ashe, who won the 1968 U.S. Open and two other Grand Slam singles titles, is joining the tournament’s Court of Champions.

“Arthur Ashe is one of the greatest champions to ever compete at the U.S. Open, and we are proud to honor his remarkable legacy,” U.S. Tennis Association president Lucy Garvin said. “Arthur was a great humanitarian, and his legacy and his performance helped the tournament become one of the world’s premier sporting events.”

QUARTER FOR YOUR THOUGHTS: Let’s face it: Not even Yanina Wickmayer thought Yanina Wickmayer would make it to the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

Ranked 50th, she hadn’t made it past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament until this one. In her fourth-round match Monday, she was playing Petra Kvitova, who knocked top-seeded Dinara Safina out of the tournament.

But nothing is going to form at Flushing Meadows in the women’s tournament: Serena Williams is the only top-five player left. So why wouldn’t it make sense for the 19-year-old Belgian — who always dreamed of being the next Kim Clijsters — to still be around?

“I think if you’ve never played quarterfinals — if your furthest in a Grand Slam is second round — I don’t think you can expect anything,” Wickmayer said after her 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 win.

Now, she can at least dream about winning it all.

Her opponent in a most unlikely quarterfinal is Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine, who is ranked two spots lower than Wickmayer. They’re on the side of the bracket with another unseeded surprise — 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin.

Bondarenko beat 40th-ranked Gisela Dulko 6-0, 6-0 Monday.

“Yeah, maybe it’s a big surprise,” Bondarenko said. “But I was practicing for this, so it just pays off.”

DAVYDENKO OUT: After retiring from his match against No. 12 Robin Soderling with a leg injury, No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko refused to get drawn into a conversation about the much-publicized 2008 gambling probe involving one of his matches.

Davydenko was cleared of any wrongdoing after there were suspicious betting patterns in a match he played against a low-ranked opponent in 2007.

On Monday, he stopped playing against Soderling while trailing 2-1 in sets.

“For me, I really don’t care now,” Davydenko said. “I do it my way, and if I have an injury, I don’t want to finish my match.”

AP National Writer Eddie Pells contributed to this report.